In the trenching industry, earth may be degraded using picks or teeth to break up minerals and rocks. Picks are usually attached to chain driven assemblies and are used for making trenches in the earth for installing pipes and utility lines and digging foundations for homes or other buildings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,024 to Fink, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that is contains discloses a hard rock trench cutting machine including a main body assembly, a cutter wheel assembly, and a longitudinal thrust assembly. The main body assembly includes two longitudinally extending cantilever support booms each having a forward portion and a rearward portion. The rearward portions of the support booms are connected to four side wall support feet which move laterally relative to the support booms between a retracted position and an extended position. The cutter wheel assembly includes a cutter wheel frame slidably disposed on the forward portion of the support booms. A cutter wheel drum carrying a plurality of roller cutters is rotatably carried by the cutter wheel frame for rotation about an axis. The longitudinal thrust assembly extends between the main body assembly and the cutter wheel assembly for pushing the roller cutters against the trench end face.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,185 to Friant et al, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that 1 contains discloses an improved disc type rolling rock cutter, and novel cutterheads employing such cutters. A rock cutter with an improved, simplified structure, with compact bearing, and smooth, rounded blade shape is disclosed. The design incorporates a cutter ring, bearing, and seal into a single cutter ring assembly. The cutter may be assembled and disassembled for rework by a single worker with simple hand tools. Replacement of worn out cutter rings is done quickly and easily by removing the old ring assembly and then sliding a new ring, bearing, and seal assembly on to the cutter shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,735 to Cobbs et al, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains discloses a device for cutting trenches in hard rock. A plurality of disc-like primary cutters are positioned on arms around a frame. The frame rotates about a central shaft and the center shaft is moved along horizontally in the direction the trench is to be cut. Between the primary cutters are reaming cutters. Each primary and each reaming cutter is provided with a plurality of spaced apart indentors secured to the external surface and each indentor has an end point and being adaptable to penetrate the rock face upon the application of working force a distance “P” and wherein the indentor end points are spaced a distance not greater then 7 P apart.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,442 to Sudgen et al, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains discloses a first mobile mining machine for cutting mining tunnels in hard rock, which includes a horizontally swinging wheel-like cutterhead assembly mounted on a crawler and base frame assembly. The cutterhead assembly consists of a transverse horizontal axis wheel like drum on which are multiple peripherally mounted rolling cutter units. A second mobile mining machine for cutting mining tunnels in hard rock, which includes a horizontally swinging and vertically ranging wheel-like cutterhead assembly mounted on a crawler and base frame assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,183 to Borowski which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains discloses a drum cutter for a mining machine includes spaced-apart pick elements projecting radially therefrom and a disc forming part of a sensing apparatus disposed to follow a preceding one of the pick elements through rotational movement of the drum cutter. A disc is mounted by a pivot pin extending generally parallel with the rotational axis of the drum cutter.